02_Burnight-co_347_370 28/10/14 10:35 Pagina 347 Does Eliphaz Really Begin “Gently”? An Intertextual Reading of Job 4,2-11 I. The Problem: does Eliphaz initially praise or rebuke Job? Many modern interpreters are of the opinion that Eliphaz affirms Job’s righteousness in his first speech in Job 4–5, and only later ac- cuses him of wrongdoing. Commentators cite his opening words in 4,2-6, in particular, as evidence that Eliphaz is praising Job’s good deeds in an effort to offer him support and reassurance in his time of suffering. Terrien, for example, remarks that Eliphaz “be- gins considerately, and proceeds with notable gentleness and cour- tesy”, while Pope writes that he “appears to concede that Job’s piety and conduct have been exemplary” 1. It is difficult, however, to reconcile this positive reading with some of the other verses in Eliphaz’s speech. His emphasis on the fate of the wicked in 4,8-11, for example, would be peculiar if he believed Job to be guiltless; in some of the older commentaries (e.g., those of Duhm, Peake, Strahan, Ball), in fact, this presumed shift in tone has led scholars to go so far as to delete vv. 8-11 in whole or in part and/or to propose that they are later interpolations 2. Among more recent interpreters, Terrien, Driver-Gray, Clines, Newsom, and many others have noted the inappropriateness or clumsiness of various statements in 4,7-11 if Eliphaz’s aim is to comfort Job 3. That Eliphaz 1 S. TERRIEN, “The Book of Job: Introduction and Exegesis”, The Inter- preter’s Bible 3 (1954) 877-1198, here 932; M. POPE, Job (Garden City, NY 3 1973) 36. For a very different assessment of Eliphaz’s intent, one that inter- prets Eliphaz’s words here as an accusation rather than an attempt to comfort Job, see M. BUTTENWIESER, The Book of Job (New York 1922) 161. 2 D.B. DUHM, Das Buch Hiob (Freiburg 1897) 26-27; A.S. PEAKE, Job. Introduction, Revised Version with Notes and Index (New York 1905) 79; J. STRAHAN, The Book of Job Interpreted (Edinburgh 1913) 61; C.J. BALL, The Book of Job, a Revised Text and Version (Oxford 1922) 134-135. 3 S. TERRIEN, “Job”, 935-938; S.R. DRIVER – G.B. GRAY, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Job (ICC; Edinburgh 1921) 43; D.J.A. CLINES, Job 1–20 (WBC 17; Dallas, TX 1989) 126-127; C. NEWSOM, “Job”, The New Interpreter’s Bible IV (1996) 317-637, here 377. BIBLICA 95.3 (2014) 347-370